Refrigerating apparatus



H. C. BUCHERE.

REFRlGERATlNG APPARATUS.

AFPLICATIQN FILED MAR. 2, mm.

1,41 9,215, PatentedJune 13, 1922.

INVENTOR f1. QB CHERE A TTORIVEYS HERBERT CRAWFORD BUCHERE, 0F CHARLESTON, SOUTH GARQLINh.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

Application filed March 2, 1921. 'Serial No. 443,982.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT CRAWFORD Boonnnn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Charleston, in the county of Charleston and State of South Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates generally to refrigerator boxes and the like and more particularly to those employing mechanical refrigerating apparatus including condensers, as distinguished from the ordinary household refrigerator boxes as a refrigerating means, and it is to be understood that my invention applies equally to refrigerating boxes of various types either of portable or permanent nature and in the form of the usual household refrigerating box: as well as those in the nature of built-in plants.

Refrigerating systems or apparatus of a mechanical nature, for instance those employing refrigerants like ethyl chloride, operate under condenser pressures which are usually low under normal working conditions and most frequently employ condensapparatus in the machinery compartin the lower portion of the refrigerator in the freezing down to the compressor ng the continued operation of the appas in such systems the result is a cooling he compressor and on this account the pressor discharges its liquid and gas a continued loss of temperature. The condenser temperature and pressure drops correspondingly and when the operation continues for a suflicient time, especially in cold weather, it is obvious that there soon arises in the cycle of operation a time when the condenser temperature drops to such point that it has not sufficient impulse or pressure to raise the condensed gases or liquid to the distributing or expansion valve, the latter located always or nearly always in the upper compartment called the freezcompartment of the refrigerator box.

is to overcome these defects in such a sy m and enable a continuous perfect cycle of operations to take place that my invention proposes the following condensing arrangement whereby the greatest number of heat units can be disposed of by a condenser using the atmosphere as a cooling medium by the disposition. of the condenser so that it will receive the greatest amount of the atmospheric cooling medium in the smallest space and with minimum power.

In the furtherance of the foregoing objects my invention also aims to make provision for a condenser so located that the condensed refrigerants will flow, either directly or indirectly, to the expansion or distributing valve by gravity so as to thus insure a supply of refrigerant to the distributing apparatus at all times regardless of refrigerant or condenser pressure.

These and other objects, together with the resulting advantages, will plainly appear from the following description in which reference is made to the accompanying draw- 131g, forming a part of this specificatlon, and wherein,

Figure l is a side view of a conventional refrigerator box constructed and equipped according to my invention, certain parts being broken away in section, and

Figure 2 is a rear elevation. thereof, partly broken away and in section.

Referring now to these figures my invention has to do wit iigeratirig box, as for instance a box y be of the portable nature l hav lly indicated at 10, but which from core ing need not nece sarily be household agerating box, the invention. lending itseii alike to boxes of varying sizes as well varying design although particularly applicable to that type employing mechanical refrigerating devices or apparatus the freezing compartment of which is uppermost in the box.

According to my invention the box 10 has a conduit 11, either at its rear or within either side, which conduit tapers from a relatively small lower end having an intake 12 to an upper relatively wide end which preferably extends and occupies the full trans verse dimension of the rear or side wall of the box where the conduit is formed.

The upper end of this conduit 11 opens through the top of the box clearly seen in Figures 1 and 2 and provides for the re ception of a condenser 13 immediately adjacent to the top of the refrigerator box and here shown of more or less conventional design in as much as its particular form, apart from its location and arran ement, is not I u material to the present invention.

At its upper portion within which "the condenser 13is disposed, the conduit 11, which from its lowerintalre end to a point immediately below the condenser, is preferably of the same depth throughout, is gradually deepened by virtue of an upper inclined wall section 14, widening the same gradually toward its upper discharge end and in a direction at right angles to its taper so that the condenser 13 may be more or less inclined with respect to the vertical as shown in Figure 1 in order that maximum surface for cooling purposes will be presented to the upflowing air currents.

At the lower end of the conduit 11 and either within this end or the intake 12 or adjacent thereto, means are provided for forcing air upwardly through the conduit, and while such means may be of various natures, I propose the use of a fan 16 suitably supported in connection with the lower portion of the refrigerator box 10, which may be driven in any suitable manner as for instance by a belt connection 17 with an electric motor 18.

In operation the current of air passing upwardly through the conduit 11 circulates through and around the condenser 13 and produces a maximum cooling action by the atmosphere prior to its escape through the upper open end of the conduit and the invention thus enables location of the condenser in position where it takes advantage of this cooling action to a maximum extent and where its position enables and permits of the discharge from the condenser by gravity to the distributing or expansion valve normally located in the upper portion of the refrigerator box.

As before stated the arrangement of the condenser in the conduit adjacent to the upper portion of the refrigerator box and its inclination or disposition otherwise to re ceive maximum cooling efiect ofthe air current are matters highly important to the invention, but aside from these features :the particular form of condenser is not important. Neither is the particular type of the means producing the air currents important, but the general arrangement whereby air currents are utilized in the manner described and, shown for passing off the heat of liquids or gases in the condenser when the latter is located and cooled as shown and described are evident and may be clearly app-reciated.

I claim:

1. A-refrigerator box capable of utilizing refrigerating apparatus including a condenser, said box having a vertically extending air conduit whose lower end opens into the lower interior portion of the box and whose upper end opens through the top of the box, and a condenser arranged in the upper portion of the said conduit immediately adjacent to the top of the box.

2. A refrigerator box and the like capable of utilizing refrigerating apparatus includin a condenser, said box having an air cond uit formed vertically thereof and opening at its lower end into the lower portion of the box, said conduit gradually widening laterally of the box from its said lower end to its upper end and opening through the top of the box, and a condenser arranged in the upper larger end of the conduit adjacent to the top of the box.

3. A refrigerator box capable of utilizing refrigerating apparatus including a condenser, said box having a vertical conduit having an upper discharge end and a lower intake end the latter end opening into the lower portion of the box, said conduit tapering laterally of the box from its said discharge end to its said intake end, means for causing a current of air to pass from the box upwardly through the conduit, said conduit having its upper portion gradually widening a jacent to its disohargeend in a direction at right angles to its taper, and a condenser disposed and inclined within the upper widened end of the conduit as described.

HERBERT CRAWFORD BUCHERE. 

